The president of the International Polar Foundation and famous polar explorer Alain Hubert attended the inauguration of the new “Métis” building at the Collège du Biéreau in Louvain-la-Neuve on October 8^th. The new passive building, built with environmentally-friendly materials, houses a kindergarten and was equipped with high-end low-consumption equipment.

A major support of the project, Mr Alain Hubert explained the role of the first “zero emission” station ever built, the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica. Mr Hubert then thrilled the children with an explanation of the analysis of ice cores and how looking for traces of pollen or gasses can help reconstruct the past climate and predict future changes.

On October 14th & 15th, the European Parliament hosted the Arctic Futures Symposium, an event organized by the International Polar Foundation in collaboration with the Aspen Institute and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation. The symposium, which welcomed over a hundred experts from North America (US and Canada), Europe (Arctic countries and others) and Australia included four workshops which aimed to "contribute to the informal dialogue between the EU and the Arctic countries", said International Polar Foundation President, Alain Hubert on the opening day.

With about 200 delegates attending and various high-profile hosts featured, the plenary session of the second day of the symposium brought interesting conclusions which will help improve governance of the Arctic. On the second day of the event, HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco highlighted the contributions of the scientists on a better understanding of the challenges at hand in the Arctic. While underlining the toll paid by the Arctic as a consequence of the world’s excesses, the Prince expressed his hopes for the Cancun Climate meeting to be held in December.

In his speech to the plenary session on the second day of the symposium, President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy underlined the change of mentality regarding the Arctic and the recognition of the region’s importance to Europe and the rest of the world. He further lauded the EU’s contribution to assessing the impact of climate change on the Arctic and its efforts to engage dialogue with the indigenous people.

A changing Arctic and the threats and opportunities that this brings were openly discussed during the workshops held on the first day of the symposium. The sessions called for an urgent assessment of the issues raised by the development of several areas of the Arctic, particularly regarding the increasing commercial and tourism maritime activities. The discussions showed that the opportunities the changing Arctic offer should be approached with caution. While none denied that development in the Arctic is a natural evolution, the unique situation of the region and the global consequences stemming from changes occurring there call for further dialogue and improved governance regimes. This dialogue, the participants also stressed, should include the indigenous peoples who live in the Arctic.  And while there should be a focus on the preservation of fragile ecosystems, any future discussion will need to take into account the rights of the Arctic circumpolar nations as well as indigenous peoples regarding the exploitation of the natural and living resources of the region.

Development will bring both threats and opportunities, and seizing the opportunities involves a responsibility of managing and handling the threats. While development in the Arctic is inevitable, most participants of the symposium agreed that certain matters needed to be investigated and that the establishment of marine reserves was one potential option for the future.

Overall, the Arctic Futures Symposium was a timely gathering of scientists, policymakers, and stakeholders presenting their experiences and research and having the opportunity to debate and understand the complicated issues facing the Arctic.

From October 2^nd to 17^th, the general public will have the opportunity to discover the “Venturi Antarctica” at the Mondial de l’Automobile in Paris. Partnering with the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, the International Polar Foundation collaborated with car manufacturer Venturi from Monaco to develop the “Venturi Antarctica”, an electric vehicle to be used in the extreme conditions of Antarctica.

Once delivered to the BELARE team the vehicle will allow scientists and other crew members at the Princess Elisabeth Station to go into the field “emissions-free” from the 2011-2012 Antarctic season onwards. In order to develop this unique vehicle, Venturi had to use all its know-how to come up with solutions to the challenging Antarctic environment. Conceived for use in temperatures down to - 50 °C, the vehicle will be directed by “joysticks” for greater precision. Weighing only 1.200kg, the “Venturi Antarctica” is extremely light, and has the ability of transporting up to a ton of staff and materials over 150km at a maximum speed of 40km/h.

Designed and built to fit in the global objective of “zero emission” pursued by the Princess Elisabeth Station, the “Venturi Antarctica” was conceived to connect on the station’s micro “smart grid” and will thus adapt its charging time to the priorities set by the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). This new piece of automotive technology further illustrates the feasibility of a “zero emission” target, even in the most extreme conditions.

On September 17th, 2010, the community center “Bonnevie” and the association “l’ESPOIR”, officially inaugurated their project on Rue Fin in Molenbeek (Brussels) in the presence of Mrs Evelyne Huytebroeck, Minister for the Environment, Energy, Urban Regeneration and Aid to Individuals and Mr Alain Hubert, polar explorer and President of the International Polar Foundation. The project to build 14 passive duplex apartments was designed by architect Damien Carnoy and has involved the future inhabitants and owners of the apartments from its inception.

Officially supported by Alain Hubert, the building “l’Espoir” was twinned with the Princess Elisabeth Station in Antarctica on June 9th, 2008 and selected as an “exemplary building” by the IBGE (Institut Bruxellois de Gestion de l’Environnement – Brussels Institute for Environmental Management). After construction came to an end in March 2010, the 14 families saw their dream become reality as they moved into their new passive homes in June 2010.

Saturday and Sunday 10th and 11th of July 2010, IPF-Switzerland participated in the eighth edition of "La Nuit de la Science" in Geneva, a very popular event organised every two years by the "Musée d’histoire des sciences".

Located in a beautiful garden, near the lake, "La Nuit de la Science" aims to create a link between science, the scientists and the public. The theme of this year edition was "Extreme and Limits".

The IPF was invited by the Association La Libellule, in their beautiful Pavillon Plantamour, to present an exhibition about the poles and climate change, based on the Class Zero Emission workshop.

Despite a slight decrease in the general affluence compared to previous years (due to the heat wave and a particularly busy cultural agenda), the public was curious and enthusiastic to discover the IPF exhibition. The 3D puzzles of the Arctic and Antarctic, together with small and funny scientific experiments were a must for the kids. Parents discovered the work of the International Polar Foundation and were fascinated by the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Station.

The CZE exhibit will remain open to the public in the Pavillon Plantamour until the end of July.

On June 9th 2010, Schneider Electric organized a VIP Event in Ostend. The event, in which the IPF participated, started with an academic meeting that was opened by Jean-Paul Brees, President of Schneider Electric in Belgium.

During the academic meeting, a film related to the experience of Jean and Wim, two engineers from Schneider Electric who took an active part in installing the energy management solutions at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica polar station. Alain Hubert, the co-founder and President of the International Polar Foundation, then stepped up to talk about how the research station project had been developing since its inauguration at Tours & Taxi in September 2007.

After the academic meeting, the guests were invited to a drinks reception organized in a ‘Market Place’ where those attending could visit the dozen or so stands and directly discover solutions for all of the markets which Schneider Electric covers, including energy, infrastructure, building, industry, data and residential centers.

Saturday 5th of June 2010, IPF-Switzerland was invited to participate in the World Environment Day organised by the United Nations in Geneva. An exhibition stand held by the swiss IPF team explained the Foundation’s activities to the public.

This event, organised by the United Nations Office in Geneva in collaboration with United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the Geneva Environmental Network (GEN), was dedicated to Biodiversity, in the scope of the International Year of Biodiversity 2010. IPF-Switzerland presented different IPF educational tools covering this theme.

The bright sunshine motivated numerous people, who discovered the IPF’s projects and activities as well as the event’s other stands and activities. The visit of the United Nations Office park (the Ariana Park), which was exceptionally open to public for the day, was particularly popular.

The IPF had an enjoyable and productive time during their stay at the IPY Oslo Conference. About 2,300 scientists, policymakers, teachers and students gathered at the Norway Convention Centre in Lillestrøm just outside Oslo between the 8th and 12th of June. Over the course of five days, polar researchers from all over the world gave 1,800 presentations.

The five-day conference was the largest ever gathering of the polar and IPY research community, allowing participants to catch up, exchange ideas, and meet potential partners from the four corners of the world.

Education & Outreach

Two members of our education team attended the teacher's conference two days prior to the start of the conference: Sandra Vanhove (head of IPF's education team) and Mieke Sterken. Sandra was one of the organizers of the conference and led four workshops on measuring albedo. With about 120 teachers from around 'the world participating, the teacher's conference was a big success. It gave teachers the opportunity to meet colleagues from all over the world as well as a number of polar scientists who also participated in the workshop. Enthusiastic about the outcome of the workshop, the teachers decided to create a Polar Teachers network as an analogue to the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) that currently exists for young researchers.

As a former APECS Education & Outreach Committee member, Mieke Sterken witnessed the official launch of the Polar Resources Book (PRB) (part of APECS' IPY legacy), which she had been involved with since it was first conceived. The IPF contributed five classroom activities and four project stories to this excellent resource book for teachers (available for purchase).

Both women also kept busy during the science conference. Sandra attended the education and outreach conferences, which gave her the opportunity to hear about polar-related education and outreach efforts from around the world. In addition, she introduced the educational materials developed by the IPF's education department during her talk 'Hot Puzzles...Cold Experiments in Class Zero Emission'.

Meanwhile, Mieke gave a presentation about changes in the climate in the Northeastern Antarctic Peninsula since the end of he last ice age as part of a session called 'Climate and paleoclimate dynamics and processes'.

Communication, Science & Networking

Two members of the IPF's communications team also attended: Jean de Pomereu and Joseph Cheek, both journalists for the IPF's SciencePoles website. Jean was present for all five days of the conference, attending the opening ceremony, all the keynote speeches of the conference and about a dozen presentation sessions. He also took part in the IPY legacy workshop on Wednesday 9th June, conducted interviews for SciencePoles with polar researchers, and most notably chaired a session entitled 'IPY in the Media' on Friday 11th June.

Joseph joined Jean at the very end of the conference, giving a successful presentation on the media coverage of the Princess Elisabeth Station at the same media session Jean chaired. He spent the rest of the time making new contacts, setting up interviews with polar scientists, and attending the closing ceremonies.

Wrapping Up

In addition to work, there were ample opportunities to socialize and network during events such as a boat trip, a barbecue held at the Fram Museum , and the many dinners that were held. An enjoyable time was had by all!

Overall, the IPY Oslo Conference was a successful outing for the IPF. It was an opportunity to represent the IPF and its myriad of activities and initiatives on an international level, get the latest findings in polar research, and broaden our contacts within the global polar science and education community.

The next IPY event, 'From Knowledge to Action', which will focus on taking the knowledge learned from the IPY and putting into action, will be held in Montréal in 2012.

Approximately 260 polar teachers and early career scientists from all over the world have gathered at Oslo prior to the PolarTEACHERS conference and APECS workshop to break the ice. Spirits were high as the guests were taken to the home of polar explorer Roald Amundsen to attend a dinner celebrating the 100^th anniversary of Amundsen’s departure for the South Pole.

While Sandra Vanhove and Jean de Pomereu took part in the IPY Legacy of Education and Outreach on Wednesday morning, Mieke Sterken presented her study “Holocene Glacial and Climate History in the Northeastern Antarctic Peninsula” in the afternoon.

Next in line for the IPF will be Joseph Cheek presenting the coverage of the Princess Elisabeth Station during the session “Global Learning: The Impact of the Media'” scheduled on Friday 11 June AM.

We will of course do a full report of the activities once everyone's back from Oslo, but in the meantime, those looking for fresh news can check out the news on the Oslo Science Conference website.

The "Zero Emission" Princess Elisabeth Station in Antarctica has been selected to be featured in the "Multiple Plan - Design Crossroads in Belgium" exhibition in Essen's Red Dot Design Museum from October 28th until November 21st, 2010.

The exhibition will offer a reflection on:

• Co-Design: the synergies and the possible collaboration projects;
• Innovation: Design as a search for innovative solutions;
• Interdisciplinarity: Ideas transmission and exchange as a basis for sustainable development.

This exhibition aims at offering a narrative showcase of selected recent best practices of Belgian design at large, from concept to communication design, from product design to scientific or technological application. By taking a closer look at various aspects of design, the exhibition will feature projects looking for innovative solutions to a more sustainable society.